Be sure you are in a comfortable place,
Somewhere you won't be disturbed,
Somewhere you can take rest.
Have a blanket or cover over you.
Be warm,
Make yourself as comfortable as you can and settle in for this practice.
Lay in Savasana,
Legs out in front,
Your feet falling out to the sides,
Spine is aligned from crown of head to in between your feet,
Arms by your sides a little away from your body with your palms turned upwards and maybe slowly gently roll your head from side to side to release any tension from your neck and nestle your shoulders into the support beneath you so they sink away from your ears,
Widen your chest as you open yourself up to rest.
Now just close down the eyes if you've not already done so and make a resolve to stay awake through this practice and take the invitation to now enter stillness.
I will be guiding you through with my voice but try not to focus too intently on it,
Rather have a loose connection with it,
A gentle awareness of it and always trust yourself first and foremost throughout the practice.
Should anything suggested not feel right today then honour that,
Always honour your intuition,
Your intuition.
Remember this is your practice.
Take a moment to feel your body here,
Your whole body,
From your toes and your feet,
Your legs,
Your glutes,
Belly and chest,
Your entire back,
Your arms,
Hands and fingers,
Your neck,
Face and the whole of your head,
The whole of your body.
Just feel the whole of your body here in this space.
And bring your awareness to your breath now.
Be fully aware and mindful of each inhale entering your body and each exhale leaving your body.
Notice the ease of your breath.
Allow your body to start to let go here.
Here there is nothing for you to do.
This is your practice,
Your time,
Your rest.
Continuing to focus on your breath,
Notice how your chest and belly rise gently on your inhale and release on your exhale.
Your cyclical rhythmic breath and its natural effortless flow.
Now bring your attention to the sound of your breath,
Perhaps like a wave.
Listen intently to this never-ending wave flowing in its never-ending cycle.
Your breath in your body,
Your body breathing itself.
Begin to notice what other sounds are around you,
Maybe further away.
Invite your hearing to be as wide as the ocean now,
Hearing every sound near and far.
Now allow them all to fade away,
To dissolve away like water.
Noticing just the sound of this voice and the sound of your breath flowing in and out with ease.
Again bringing your full focus onto your breath.
Follow it inside like a river flowing to the sea.
Watch your breath flowing from the external world,
Moving freely to the vastness within,
To the internal world.
Be curious and explore the vastness of space within your body.
And see if you can sense a place within that feels like the center of yourself,
Your center.
Like an island,
An island in the sea of your internal world.
A refuge,
Somewhere that feels really familiar.
Somewhere within that's always been and which you can sense will always be.
Your sanctuary within,
Your home within yourself.
And be invited here,
Sense a feeling of being invited and being welcomed,
Welcomed home.
You are now invited to make your Sankalpa,
Your deepest intention or heartfelt desire.
We repeat Sankalpa twice in Yoga Nidra,
Once at the beginning and once at the end.
Planting the seed of our Sankalpa deep into our subconscious to take root and reshape our mind.
Remember these words of Buddha,
The mind is everything,
What you think you become.
If you are working with your own Sankalpa,
Prepare to make it in the spaces that follow.
And if you're yet to define your own,
You might like to take the intention of this practice and repeat the following statement,
I am at peace in my life.
I accept and surrender to what is.
Trusting the flow of the universe at all times.
Whatever your Sankalpa,
Create it in the present tense starting with the words,
I am.
Repeat it silently and wholeheartedly to yourself three times.
And taking this idea of flow now,
Rotating our consciousness around the body,
Invite this sense of flow,
Be it of water,
Of light,
Whatever really resonates for you.
And have this sense of flow saturate your whole being.
As we begin with bringing your full focus and awareness to your right hand and the very tip of your right hand thumb.
Maybe sense the flow of water or light land onto the very tip of your right hand thumb.
And then your first finger.
Second finger.
Third finger.
And little finger.
Flow into the palm of your hand.
And then the back of your hand.
Your right wrist.
Elbow.
Shoulder.
The right side of your chest.
Sense this feeling of flow land now on your right hip.
Your knee.
Your ankle.
The sole of your foot.
And then your right big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe and little toe.
The top of your right foot.
The whole of your right foot.
Now bring your full focus and attention to your left hand and the very tip of your left hand thumb.
Invite this sense of flow be it water or light and let it land on the very tip of your left hand thumb.
First finger.
Second finger.
Third finger and little finger.
Again invite the flow to land in the palm of your hand.
The back of your hand.
Your left wrist.
Elbow.
Shoulder.
The left side of your chest.
Your hip.
Knee.
Ankle.
Sole of foot.
Your left big toe in the very very tip of your left big toe.
Second toe.
Third toe.
Fourth toe and little toe.
The top of your foot.
Your whole left foot.
Now taking your attention to the back body.
Flow up around the soles of your feet to your heels.
Up your calves.
Gracing the little space behind your knees.
To the backs of your thighs and your glutes.
All along your back from your lower back,
Middle back,
Upper back,
Your shoulder blades,
Your neck and all of your head.
To the crown of your head.
Let this sense of flow fall over the crown of your head onto your forehead.
Feel it soften along your right eyebrow and your left eyebrow.
Your right eye and your left eye and all the muscles behind your eyes.
Your right temple and left temple.
Your right ear and your left ear.
Your right cheek and left cheek.
Your nose and the bridge of your nose.
Your top lip.
Bottom lip.
Your mouth.
Your teeth and your tongue.
Everything softening with this sense of flow.
Your chin and your neck.
Landing in that little valley between your collarbones.
Your right collarbone and your left.
The right side of your chest and the left.
The whole of your right leg.
The whole of your left leg.
The whole of your right arm and the whole of your left arm.
Your whole head.
Your whole chest.
Both your legs and both your arms.
Your whole body.
From the bottom to the top.
The left to the right.
The inside out.
Your whole body now.
Alive with a sensation of flow.
Feel these sensations in your body.
Unified.
Enriched.
Made whole.
Take a long deep inhale here and as you exhale allow yourself to really let go.
Release.
Melt into the ground.
Just let everything go.
Not only releasing your physical body but also releasing any grip on desired expectations or outcomes in life.
And accept how things are in this present moment.
Let go of any judgment you may have towards yourself,
Your body,
Your life.
And fully accept how things are.
Allow a sense of kindness and compassion to rise up for yourself.
And in letting go,
Consciously letting go,
We let go of any need to control anything in our life.
Inviting and trusting our intuition that all things shall be well.
As we work through our opposite sensations and feelings,
Stay with your equanimity.
Your calm state of being.
Stay with your heart open and steadfast.
So invite a sense of tension into the body.
Invite that sense of tension to come into your body,
To feel that sensation.
And now notice a feeling of release in the body.
A feeling of tension,
Of everything becoming denser,
Tighter.
A sense of holding on,
A sense of control perhaps.
And then just let it go.
Allow a feeling of release into the body.
A feeling of release and flow.
And switch between them.
A feeling of tension and a feeling of release.
A feeling of release and a feeling of tension.
Call to mind now a time of joy.
A time when your heart was full of happiness and joy.
Really feel that sensation in your body.
A time of great happiness and joy.
And now call to mind a time of sadness.
You can choose whichever feeling or memory you like.
Perhaps choose one that lends a sense of this emotion.
And now switch back to a feeling of joy.
And again back to a feeling of sadness.
We have all had these times.
Both sadness and joy.
Joy and sadness.
It is all just an experience.
Now move to hold these two states together.
At the same time.
Stay with your equanimity.
Joy and sadness together.
Sadness and joy together.
Feel both states of being simultaneously without preference for one or the other.
Acknowledging they are just experiences.
Allow both feelings to simply be present at the same time.
What remains?
What is always here?
Witnessing it all.
In a vast,
Unified,
Non-dualistic space.
Let go and dissolve into your true interconnected consciousness.
Surrender and let it be.
Bring your attention back to your breath.
Notice it softer,
Quieter maybe.
Just moving in and out of your body with complete ease.
Your body breathing itself.
And invite your breath to land on the very tip of your tailbone.
Just notice it breathing in and out at the very tip of your tailbone.
And on your inhale,
Invite your breath,
This flow of breath,
To move up from the tip of your tailbone all the way up your spine to the crown of your head.
And on your exhale,
Just take the breath back down again.
Flow your breath all the way back down your spine to the tip of your tailbone.
Inhaling,
Feel that sense of flow.
That sense of openness.
Of movement without obstacle.
Breathing in from the tip of your tailbone all the way to the crown of your head.
And then exhaling,
Just let that flow come back down your spine.
Again,
Movement without obstacle.
And continue in your own time and your own breath.
Flowing your breath all the way up your spine and back down again.
And on your next inhale,
Take your breath all the way up to the crown of your head.
And have a sense of an opening at the crown of your head.
And there being a receiving of energy,
Of vitality,
Of nourishment.
Again,
It could be in the form of water,
Of light.
Whatever feels right for you today.
But as you inhale,
Stay with a little pause at the top.
As your breath reaches the crown of your head.
And welcome in this sense of nourishment.
And then exhale,
Take it all the way down the spine to the tip of your tailbone.
Allowing it to spread through your entire body.
Receiving all of this energy through the flow of your breath.
Continue in your own time.
Now bring your full focus,
Attention and awareness to the space between your eyebrows.
Go behind your forehead.
And enter the space of all consciousness,
Chidakash.
Let go to this realm.
Focus here.
The bridge between the conscious,
Subconscious and super conscious.
And observe any images and sensations.
Any insights and understandings that may arise here.
In this space.
I'm now going to name some images.
Don't try too hard here.
But welcome whatever image comes as you hear the following.
Imagine walking barefoot on the earth.
The roots of an old oak tree.
The sound of wind rustling through tall grass.
The vastness of the night sky.
A range of the tallest mountains.
Drops of dew on a spider's web.
The equilibrium of scales.
Fields in the countryside on a misty autumn morning.
The weathered rocks of a cliff face.
The yellow,
Whites,
Pinks and blues of spring flowers.
A salt room purifying and cleansing.
Digging your hands into rich,
Fertile soil.
A compass showing your own true north.
The sound of rain falling on a rooftop.
Your own secret labyrinth.
The quiet before the dawn.
A four-petalled lotus flower with a square in the middle.
A feeling of coming home.
A feeling of coming home within.
Of coming home within.
Come back to that feeling of your home within.
This welcoming feeling of home inside yourself.
Your island in the internal sea.
Your rock,
Your place of steadfastness.
Your inner resource.
And rest here in this ever-present place.
This place where you are and have always been whole and complete.
Where you are enough.
Just the way you are.
What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.
Rest here and welcome that which lies within you.
Expand your awareness beyond the confines of your body now.
Entering the space of all there is.
Of pure acceptance.
Of pure awareness.
Go beyond and let it be.
May today there be peace within.
May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others.
May you use the gifts that you have received and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content with yourself just the way you are.
Returning to your Sankalpa.
Prepare to repeat it again three times in the space that will soon follow.
Really feel the attributes of your Sankalpa.
Embody what it feels like.
Make it real and feel what it's like to own and be this quality in your body,
In your being.
In the words of Satyananda,
A resolution made in the beginning and at the end of Yoga Nidra is like a seed sown in the depth of your consciousness.
Anything in life can fail you,
But not the Sankalpa.
The resolution made in the beginning and at the end of Yoga Nidra.
Again,
If you would like to use the intention for this practice,
You may want to repeat the following.
I am at peace in my life.
I accept and surrender to what is.
Trusting the flow of the universe at all times.
Or use your own Sankalpa.
Or use your own Sankalpa.
But in the moments of silence that now follow,
Repeat your Sankalpa three times,
Silently and wholeheartedly to yourself.
Knowing it is done.
So draw your attention back to your breath again.
Notice it flowing with ease,
Breathing softly,
Rhythmically and naturally.
Start to feel now that you're floating back to everyday awareness.
Become aware of your body once again lying here in this space.
Feel your clothes and the blankets that cover you.
Notice a sensation of your whole body on the floor or on your bed or your sofa at ease and at complete rest.
And keeping your eyes closed,
Start to imagine the external space around you.
And slowly with no rush,
Just drift back into this space.
Inviting the effects of this practice to last with you as you return back into your body into this space.
Maybe gently start to give a little movement in your fingers and toes,
Waking up your body as you return to this space.
And acknowledge how you're feeling.
Just notice,
Acknowledge and accept how you're feeling.
This is the time you need to fully land back into this space.
Keeping a sense of lightness about you as you return now to this space.
And when you feel fully awake,
Gently blink open your eyes and roll to the right.
Just stay on your side for a few moments.
And remember with regular practice of Yoga Nidra,
We fill our own precious resources up.
We fill ourselves with rest,
Nourishment,
Energy and a centeredness and authenticity.
That enables us to then give the very best of ourselves back out to our worlds.
So welcome back to your world.
May the peace which passes all understanding keep your heart and mind in the knowledge and presence of love.
This practice of Yoga Nidra is now complete.
The unseen and the seen are both one.
Hari Om Tat Sat.
